Otherworldly

Spring may be just around the corner, but the weather we’re having lately makes it feel much further away. Fortunately, with the lovely new trees from Fanatik I am able to enjoy some lush greenery in Second Life instead.  Fanatik has released two sets of trees, the poplars I am using in this post and also a Nordic pine set. The poplars include six different shapes and come in Winter, Autumn and Summer variants, with texture differences even within the ranges.  The sizes are easily modified, but of course the land impact will change if you do so. At sizes up to 10 meters, they are 1 prim each. You may also notice that the leaves do not cause alpha issues with the background even though that is a common issue when using a mesh surround.

The Monk Outfit from Cosmos is one of several releases for male avatars at the current round of We Love Role-Play and while I don’t own any of the male bodies it is rigged for, the covering nature out of the outfit meant I could get away with using my Slink Physique Male body to show it off for you. This is a nicely meshed and textured outfit which is made very useful by the texture HUD that offers three different colours (brown, red and white/grey) and also options for different symbols on the chest (or none, as here).  That means you can use it to portray monks of different varieties.

This particular monk is of the sneaky kind, out to explore a secret passage in an occult library. This is a release from Fantavatar & Moonstruck for Chronicles & Legends: “Creatures of the Night” and as you can see the middle section of the shelf set can be clicked so it slides sideways. For best effect, of course, you need a door or a passage behind the opening. Here I am using one of the lower levels of Fanatik’s Arkaig Castle.

We Love Role-Play has opened its February round. The sim has changed from Riverhunt to We Love RolePlay, so make sure to use the new address!

Del-ka Aedilis has released the At the Lupanar - Chelidonis set, centered around a large daybed with additional accessories in the form of a paravent, a sidetable, an oil lamp, a set of flacons, a washbowl and an amphora. It is a set designed for a Roman brothel, also called a “Lupanar”. The animations in the daybed are selected for this purpose and feature one menu of single poses and the rest are either for couples or threesomes. 

I decided to set it up in one of the Roman houses released by Fanatik a while back, imagining it as the “front parlour” of the brothel, with an upstairs available as well. Not historically accurate, but then neither is what I am wearing. ;) But for a fantasy take on a Romanesque setting, this Petrichor & Ersch collaboration makes for a pretty fetching outfit for our “Lupa”. I did forego some parts of it, which was easy because it comes with a HUD that allows you to full control over what to hide and show. Very handy!

I love the combination of the revealing gown (which can be switched between long and short with the HUD) and the mask for hiding your face in this collaboration between Petrichor and Ersch for Midnight Order. Wear just the gown and the shoes (and alright, maybe a panty) and you are set for a glamorous evening. Add on the mask and you’re going to the meeting of a secret society. Finally, wear the various floating crystals and you look like a seductive enchantress. The various HUD packs also allow for varying your look and affecting the chosen textures with your choice of materials. With seven supported body options, the odds are good that the outfit will work for you.

The tied-off pigtails style is from Wasab for Uber and comes with the option of a whole collection of little hair ornaments. These can be turned on and off in batches and coloured per batch. The style also includes optional bangs and options for having the pigtails over your shoulder or brushed back.

A taste of what will be on offer in the upcoming round of We Love Role-Play, which I have gotten a chance to become a blogger for. Since it has been my favourite regular event for years, I am thrilled and hope to have lots of fun with it. Trying more new-to-me roleplay-oriented creators is always a delight!

The massive Multi Map War Table from Cosmos features three different maps options: Westeros, Gor and Witcher. The illumination of the table and the candles can be turned on and off and former has a nice effect where it slowly fades in or out when toggled.

My outfit is, believe it or not, an applier layer. It reminds me of the great work that Chaospire used to do, but this is by Reviver, a brand I have not noticed before. It has baked on or painted on lighting and while I would not have minded a materials add-on, it works quite well as it is. The applier also works for both male and female avatars.

The final piece from WLRP is the Isolde Crown from Sacrilege.  Despite the name it is unisex and the included HUD offers six metal textures, three accent colours and five jewel textures.

We Love Role-Play opens on the 4th of February and there will be a new SLURL, so keep your eyes open for that.

I don’t apply for a lot of blogger positions any longer, things are busy enough as it is, but I did send in for Petrichor’s latest blogger search since I do like blogging intricate fantasy outfits and jewellery. So this is my first post, featuring the Zarys outfit. This is a release from a little while back that was created in collaboration with Ersch and consists of a dress, optional sleeves (one or both arms) and panties with leg chains as well as some spiky armor pieces (not shown). There are several different packs available with different texturing huds for the fabrics as well as the metals. The opacity of the dress can also be altered via the huds. Sizes included are eBody, Kupra, Legacy, Legacy Perky, Lara, Lara Petite and Mounds.

The hair is Wasabi’s New Year’s Edition of Mystique and the skin is LeLapeau’s Elsa with body skin by Velour. I am stepping out of Fanatik’s Stalker Castle and using a pose by Serendipity.

It sits in a harsh, snow-covered landscape, looking from a distance like a large block of ice. The ice is very glossy, looking almost like blue-green crystal in places. When you come closer, you can see that there is a wide opening at the front (and a smaller one, almost hidden, along one of the sides) and that the block of ice is in fact a massive grotto. But, don’t get too close, because the grotto has an inhabitant…

The new Grotto building set from Fanatik consists of 32 different building pieces and 4 additional props. They can be used to construct tunnels and grottos of all sizes and because the meshes have an outside (unlike the Cave system pieces) these can be used in places where they need to be viewed from both the outside and the inside. The set includes several examples in different sizes to give a sense of what you can create; for this photo I am using the largest sample build which is 164 prims. I also added other rocks from Fanatik (Boulders from the Land Shapes package) around it to merge it better with the landscape (created with the Islands from the Land Shapes package).

There are four rock textures included (one of them being this ice version) and seven different ground textures.  You texture via a root prim that communicates with the HUD so make sure to read the instructions for how to build these sets.

I love the We Love Role-Play release from deviousMind, “Mistletoe”. Not only is it a sexy holiday dress, but the little scythe for harvesting mistletoe hanging from the belt is the icing on the cake. Perfect for the girl who wants to ensure that there’s mistletoe hung wherever it is convenient. Alternatively, if she has any Norse gods to slay and needs to fashion herself a few arrows. The set includes an unrigged piece of mistletoe as well, which you can spot in the background. The rest of the decor is from various holiday sets from Libertine, including the awesome decorateable tree.

Del-ka Aedilis latest release is a Roman tavern table (though it will fit into many historical/fantasy scenarios) that offers a selection of single and couple animations, for male and female avatars. Some of the animations, like the eating and drinking ones, include auto-rezzing props. I setup the table in one of the builds from Fanatik’s Roman village set; this one is technically a warehouse but works nicely as a tavern as well. The decor in the background is also from Del-ka Aedilis.

Proper Roman clothing for women is pretty hard to come by in SL, so I opted for more of a fantasy look with the Pandora gown from Tres. The Celeste hair from Magika isn’t all that Roman either, but very pretty. Red hair was quite popular, often achieved with various more or less disgusting bleaching methods and then henna on top of that.

Royalty is the theme for the current round of Enchantment and Fantavatar & Moonstruck has made a chest fit for a queen, with elaborate painted decor on all sides. The chest is scripted so that you can open the lid and use it for storage. At the default size, I think you might even be able to hide a body in it, should the need arise. ;) I’ve sized it down somewhat for these photos and set it up next to a furniture set from the same creator.

The pretty gown is Alisse from Senzafine and the Maia hair another find from Magika’s 50% off sale that is still going on. The castle is one of my favourites from Fanatik, the Dungan Castle; I really love this sitting room with the large fire place and have appropriated it as royal quarters.

Just a moody shot inspired by the season, dark and autumnal and with the Samhain Rune Tree from Del-ka Aedilis as the focal point. With a carved stone set in front of the tree and runes made from twigs dangling from its bare branches, it definitely fires up the imagination. Has perhaps more gruesome things hung from those branches as well?

A little while ago, Fanatik released a wonderful collection of Roman buildings. With these, you can build your very own Roman town, with houses, warehouses, temples and a forum. There was also a package of Roman roads and a gorgeous villa Rustica, for the country lord living in style outside of the town. The textures for these sets are fantastic and they are easily resized if you find the defaults a bit too large. I am showing just a few shots here, to give a sense of the overall look of the pieces, but I am thinking of doing a video walk through of a build as well.

Another piece of Roman-inspired decor is the well bearing the SPQR inscription seen in the first two shots. It is from Del-ka Aedilis and also nicely resizable for when you’re rather short by SL standards. It looks great in the forum!

The hair is from F&M Oblivion, an elaborate updo that I don’t think was intended as Roman in style but sort of could pass for some of the braided arrangements we see on busts. My dress is from TRES for We Love Role-Play, a sleek fantasy gown with a nice ornate belt detail and a lovely back. For this release, TRES has added sizes for three new bodies, Belleza Gen X and Prima Femme Busty & Petite. I am actually wearing Prima Femme Petite for this post, together with a few of the very nice body deformers that add extra versatility to the shapes you can achieve. I will be digging into this body with a full review shortly! In the meantime, check it out at FaMESHed!

I did warn that there would be more videos for the 2022 Horse Show and here we go. With cool new idles for the horses and a fancy new cloak for myself, a video was definitely needed. Plus, it made it easier to offer a good look at the three different Dragonkin tack/mod sets from Idunn’s Clutch. I go through all the new items in the video, but for a quick and easy overview of the credits, scroll to the end of this post. On the way, you’ll pass a few photos; I am particularly pleased with the first one but the rest are pretty cool looks at the horses too.

It is much easier to shop for a female avatar than a male one, but now and then something shows up for just male avatars that I just have to have even if it means slipping on a male shape for a while. The Montague Doublet from Old Treasures is one such item; I’d love to see it for female avatars too, but I am perfectly happy to admire it on myself in male form as well. ;) But while I have a lot of great hairs for male avatars (meaning longer styles that work on men, since that’s my preference) such as this Ash style from Wasabi, I’ll definitely have to expand my collection of heads and skins if I am going to make this a habit.

The best kind of rain is a soft summer rain and sometimes it can feel wonderful to be on the beach when it happens, perhaps even take a swim in the rain.

Be My Mannequin’s “Feel How it Feels” pose (inspired by Stranger Things and its usage of Kate Bush’s fantastic Running Up That Hill) was perfect for the image of just sitting on the beach and letting a gentle rain wash down over you. The Lemongrass hair from Wasabi is a lovely, summery style which also comes with a hat for an even more beachy look and the Amelia shirt and shorts set from Salt & Pepper is part of their interactive Aquasense range, meaning it can go from dry to wet and vice versa when interacting with SL water and various scripted objects. Selected colours are on sale for the weekend.